The Ministry of Finance will pay an additional 15 million euros to Bechtel and Enka, the builders of the Corridor 8 and 10D highways, by the end of the year. These funds come from unspent budget balances, which were initially earmarked for other purposes.
The government changed the financing program in the December 11 session, increasing the payment to the Public Enterprise “State Roads” (the investor of the Tetovo-Gostivar-Bukojcan, Trebnishte-Struga-Qafe Thane and Prilep-Manastir projects) from 124 to 139 million euros for 2025 through the Ministry of Transport. The Minister of Finance, Gordana Dimitrieska-Koçoska, had previously announced this redeployment, emphasizing that the bulk of the 200 million euros reallocated will go to “Bechtel and Enka”.
The financing of the project worth 1.3 billion euros is carried out directly from the state budget, unlike other large projects financed with international loans. According to the director of “State Roads”, Koce Trajanovski, about 1200 people and over 750 machines work at the construction sites in Tetovo and Gostivar, where 60% of suppliers and 90% of subcontractors are local companies. The works began on April 22, 2023, but the Trebnishte-Qafë Thane section has not yet started due to the need to review the route to preserve the protected status of Lake Ohrid.